Chris Capuano said that Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told him after Thursday’s workout at Busch Stadium that Edinson Volquez was going to be the team’s long reliever in the National League Championship Series.

“We had to have a guy that could definitely be a long guy and we felt like he was the best long guy against this club,” Mattingly said Friday of Volquez.As we noted earlier today, both Capuano and Volquez have lousy career numbers against the Cardinals. But St. Louis is generally better against right-handed pitching this year, so the devil lies in the details.

Asked for the details, Mattingly said, “I don’t want to sit here and go through our whole meeting and give you the thought process of everybody in the room.”

And after that meeting, which the manager said lasted more than five hours, here’s what Capuano said Mattingly told him Thursday: “He said we went through the numbers and we’re going to take you off the roster for this round. Marmol and Volquez have great stuff, great arms so we have a lot of good options.”

What numbers?

“Nothing specific, but again I think it was just a case of, he’s in the position where he’s got a lot of great arms. Somebody’s got to be left off.”

Capuano added that the groin he strained in September has been only “a little sore now and then.” Mattingly said Capuano’s health was not an issue.

Mattingly said that reliever Paco Rodriguez, who was passed over for the NLCS in favor of Carlos Marmol, “has really been two different guys” this season. Batters hit .140 off Rodriguez from August to September, and .308 against him in the final month of the season. He allowed four hits and walked two batters (one intentional) while recording only two outs in his two NLDS appearances.

“The guy up until that point (in September) and the guy from that point has gotten to be a little different,” Mattingly said. “Now where does that come from? Is it from just usage where he’s in his first full year and just kind of running out of gas? Whatever that is, it still didn’t make it any easier to be able to talk about that and tell him that he wasn’t going to be on the roster.”

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.

Comments Policy

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@langnews.com.